Greener approach towards the synthesis of graphene nanosheet and its application in supercapacitor

Green synthetic method for the graphene sheet's production has precisely attracted the researcher's interest. Currently, most of the conventional practices for graphene oxide (GO) reduction into reduced graphene oxide (RGO) included chemical reduction using highly toxic and hazardous reducing agents. In this respect, here we are introducing a facile, sustainable, economically feasible, and green method to graphene sheet's synthesis by reducing the GO using natural monoterpenoid thymol. The phenolic groups present in thymol have the ability to convert exfoliated GO to RGO under reflux condition. The quality of the T-RGO was confirmed using characterization techniques. The electrochemical results showed that the T-RGO has a high specific capacitance and energy density of 400 F g(-1) and 55 W h kg(-1), respectively, at a current density of 1 A g(-1). These characterization data obtained show that this green approach holds an excellent standpoint in the synthesis of energy-storage graphene materials.

Automated summary

The green synthetic method for reducing graphene oxide to reduced graphene oxide using natural monoterpenoid thymol has shown to be a simple, sustainable, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly approach. The resulting T-RGO exhibits high specific capacitance and energy density, indicating its potential for energy-storage graphene materials synthesis.